Maria Sharapova will sit out the U.S. Open because of a bad right shoulder, the first major championship she'll skip since her Grand Slam debut in 2003. The three-time Grand Slam title winner already had announced she was pulling out of the Beijing Olympics because of the injury. The No. 3-ranked Sharapova said in a posting on her website Friday that she probably won't need surgery and could be ready to play in two to three months. "It hurts me so much to miss the Olympics and the U.S.

For an achy, ailing Steffi Graf, it really couldn't get much better--two Grand Slam finals in her last two Grand Slam appearances, including a French Open title. With the 30-year-old Graf announcing her retirement, Grand Slam by Grand Slam, it seemed inevitable she would soon make a grander statement. And on Monday, Graf said that 1999 would likely be her final year, as far as major events are concerned. She may play some selected tournaments next year.

The gloom and doom hung like smog in Riverside over the National Tennis Center early in the U.S. Open. Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter, the straws that were supposed to stir the drink in this tournament, were gone. Since Reggie Jackson can't play tennis, the days ahead appeared likely to be, well, not so stirring. Those with the biggest stakes put on happy faces and soldiered on. "You'll still see a lot of great matches," tournament director Jay Snyder said.

Venus Williams and Martina Hingis cannot meet before the semifinals at the U.S. Open, an intriguing possibility that will have to wait a week, if it happens at all. Call Serena Williams versus Hingis something of an early appetizer. Richard Williams, the Williams sisters' father, got the ball rolling when he spoke about the prospect of an all-Williams final. When Hingis entered the interview room Wednesday, she was told he was predicting just such a final.

There's much more to like about Andre Agassi these days than a sleeker body and a bigger serve. The most fascinating quality of the new and improved Agassi is located directly above his eyebrows, an area once perceived to be full of air. Agassi has not only become a great tennis player, but an adult as well. Those two things don't always go hand in hand.

It has been Late Night With Todd Martin at this year's U.S. Open tennis tournament, where the thrill of victory has been tempered by the agony of watching it. In 1991, we had Jimmy Connors' run on late night here, wild and crazy like the guy making it. In '99, we have had Martin's hobble. It has been gut-wrenching. It has played out both Tuesday and Thursday nights on USA network, and in retrospect, it would have played more fittingly as an episode on "General Hospital." Martin, seeded No.

How top-seeded men fared in recent U.S. Opens: 1993 Jim Courier, lost in third round 1994 Jim Courier, lost in second round 1995 Andre Agassi, lost in final 1996 Pete Sampras, won title 1997 Pete Sampras, lost in fourth round 1998 Pete Sampras, lost in semifinals 1999 Pete Sampras, withdrew * Source: World Features Syndicate

The longest day in tennis got a little bit longer. Will Super Saturday turn into Sleepy Sunday? An exhibition between John McEnroe and Boris Becker will be played after the women's final at the U.S Open in New York, officials announced Wednesday. Earlier this year, the U.S. Tennis Assn. created a separate session for the women's final, played Saturday of the final weekend. Previously, the final was shoehorned into a day session, sometimes between the men's semifinals.

Pete Sampras got elevation Monday at the U.S. Open. Sampras hit a slam-dunk overhead as the finishing shot to his fourth-round victory over Patrick Rafter and that smash made you forget Sampras has some lightly populated spots where hair used to be on the top of his head.

The perfect way to sum up 2 hours 51 minutes, a five-set epic of scintillating edge-of-the-seat tennis, actually came from the man who lost in Arthur Ashe Stadium. After it was over, James Blake and Andre Agassi embraced. And Blake leaned over and had the best summary of their evening together, telling Agassi, "It couldn't have been more fun to lose."